Birtley extended their lead at the top of the U16 division to 11 points when they were held to a draw by mid table Leam Rangers.

David Dixon, John Storey, Seb James and Robert Dixon all scored for Leam Rangers with Ian Taylor (2), Ross Preston and Shaun McEvoy replying for Birtley, who now have an 11 points advantage over Blaydon.

Blaydon were well beaten on their visit to Redheugh who ran out 5-1 winners with strikes by Anthony Douglas (2), Chris Wilson, Craig Whitfield and Stephen Alderson.

Wylam produced the highest score in the division defeating Wardley 7-1 when most of the goals came from Adrian Sutcliffe with a hat-trick and David Sanderson, who bagged a brace.

On game was played in the U16 League Shield and Blackfyne finished 3-1 ahead of Rutherford.

There was one other cup game and Consett suffered a 6-0 defeat when they hosted Cleveland Hall for whom Liam Docherty rifled a hat-trick and Owen Fox scored twice.

Leaders Liam Rangers were held to a 1-1 draw by Montagu when the sides met in the U17 section.

Stephen Buzzeo scored in the first minute for Montagu and Nicky Langston equalised in the last minute for Leam Rangers, whose lead has been reduced to three points.

Second top Blackfyne just had the edge on third place Redheugh, winning a seven goals thriller by a 4-3 margin. Shaun Hodgson (2), Shaun Kilkenny and Jamie Parkinson were all on target for Blackfyne with Graeme McTaggart (2) and Tony Thirkeld on the mark for the Reds.

Paul Leighton and Michael Jackson eased Consett to a narrow 2-1 victory at Swalwell whose reply came from Andrew Blandford, while West Denton went nap against Blaydon, finishing 5-1 winners. Stephen Dodds and John

Roseby both netted twice and Lee Thompson also struck for West Denton with Chris Archibald the Blaydon marksman.

Felling Magpies and Prudhoe Town drew 1-1. David Moore found the net for Felling and Chris Henderson for Prudhoe.